Rowland receives the Nobel Prize from Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf in 1995. He shared the award with Mario Molina and Paul J. Crutzen.

Eric Roxfelt
/ AP

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Originally published on March 15, 2012 1:44 pm

The man who warned us that aerosol spray-cans could destroy the earth's protective ozone layer has died.

F. Sherwood Rowland, better known as Sherry Rowland, was a Nobel-prize winning chemist at the University of California, Irvine. And he didn't just keep to the laboratory: He successfully advocated for a ban on ozone-destroying chemicals called CFCs.

Rowland was a towering figure in several senses of the world. He was big, 6-foot-4, and had a commanding presence in any room. He spoke his mind with directness. And his thoughts were firmly grounded in science. He put those qualities on very public display when he started looking into chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs.

"This started back in 1972 and 1973 with curiosity on the part of a laboratory chemist, namely me," Rowland told NPR in an interview, "about what would happen to the chlorofluorocarbon gases, which had just been discovered as being present in the atmosphere, essentially everywhere."

Rowland and a post-doctoral researcher, Mario Molina, discovered these chemicals would waft into the stratosphere. Every CFC molecule can destroy 100,000 molecules of ozone. Ozone in the upper atmosphere protects the planet from harsh ultraviolet sunlight. Life on Earth couldn't exist without the ozone layer.

"I came home one night and my wife asked me how the work was going. And I said, 'Well, it's going very well — except it looks like it might be the end of the world,'" Rowland said in 1995, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry along with Molina.

But Rowland was not the kind of man to sit in his lab and bemoan the fate of the Earth.

"Sherry Rowland wasn't just a great scientist. He was a wonderful human being," says Michael Oppenheimer at Princeton University. After making his discovery about the impending threat to the ozone layer, "he worked very hard to make sure that the political system did something about it."

That meant getting the word out about spray cans and air conditioners containing CFCs. He aroused a public to be concerned that their underarm spray might come at a terrible price. He stood up to industrialists who were worried that banning CFCs might harm their business. And he was the public face of this issue at many hearings on Capitol Hill.

Eventually, the Reagan administration championed a treaty to ban these chemicals worldwide.

Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, says Rowland's straight talk about science led to a deep, new public appreciation for our impact on the earth.

"The notion that something you could hold in your hand, one of these aerosol spray packages, was capable of influencing the physical environment worldwide, instead of just the room where you were using it, was startling," Cicerone says.

One reason Rowland was so credible was he didn't come off as an ideologue. He followed the science and called things as he saw them.

"Rowland's group had analyzed mercury in swordfish and found a great deal of the mercury being found in swordfish was natural," Cicerone says. That earned him rebukes from environmental activists.

And, Cicerone says, along with Rowland's integrity was his personal warmth. "I considered him my best friend, but I've been telling people that a lot of people considered Sherry their best friend. He was that kind of a guy. He had many best friends."

Rowland kept asking probing scientific questions into his 80s. He kept studying trace gases in the atmosphere. But he also turned his attention to trace gases in human breath. He had an idea that those gases could be a powerful way to diagnose disease. If that proves to be the case, it will be another legacy for Sherry Rowland. He died Saturday from complications of Parkinson's disease at the age of 84.

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Now, we remember the chemist who inspired us to get rid of our aerosol spray cans. Sherwood Rowland, known as Sherry, has died. He warned about the chemicals that could destroy the Earth's protective ozone layer, and he won a Nobel Prize for it. As NPR's Richard Harris tells us, Rowland didn't just keep his science in the laboratory.

RICHARD HARRIS, BYLINE: Sherry Rowland was a towering figure in several senses of the word. He was big, 6-foot-4. He had a commanding presence in any room. He spoke his mind with directness. And his thoughts were firmly grounded in science. He put those qualities on very public display when he started looking into chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs. He recalled that history in an interview with NPR.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

HARRIS: Rowland and a post-doc, Mario Molina, discovered these chemicals could waft into the stratosphere. Every CFC molecule can destroy a hundred thousand molecules of ozone. Ozone in the upper atmosphere protects the planet from harsh ultraviolet rays. Life on Earth couldn't exist without the ozone layer.

: I came home one night and my wife asked me how the work was going. And I said, well, it's going very well, except it looks like it might be the end of the world.

HARRIS: But Rowland was not the kind of man to sit in his lab and bemoan the fate of the earth.

MICHAEL OPPENHEIMER: Sherry Rowland wasn't just a great scientist. He was a wonderful human being.

OPPENHEIMER: He worked very hard to make sure that the political system did something about it.

HARRIS: That meant getting the word out about spray cans and air conditioners containing CFCs. Rowland was the public face of this issue at many hearings on Capitol Hill. And eventually, the Reagan administration championed a treaty to ban these chemicals worldwide.

Ralph Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. He says Rowland's straight talk about science led to a deep, new public appreciation for our impact on the Earth.

DR. RALPH CICERONE: The notion that something you could hold in your hand, one of these aerosol spray packages, was capable of influencing the physical environment worldwide, instead of just in the room you were using it, was startling.

HARRIS: One reason Rowland was so credible was he didn't come off as an ideologue. He followed the science and called things as he saw them. And Cicerone says on at least one occasion, he actually drew ire from environmental activists.

CICERONE: Rowland's group had analyzed mercury in swordfish and found that a great deal of the mercury that was being found in swordfish was natural.

HARRIS: And Cicerone says along with Rowland's integrity was his personal warmth.

CICERONE: I considered him my best friend, but I've been telling people that a lot of people considered Sherry to be their best friend. He was that kind of a guy. He had many best friends. Truly.

HARRIS: Sherry Rowland kept asking probing scientific questions into his 80s. He kept studying trace gases in the atmosphere. But he also turned his attention to trace gases in human breath. He had an idea that those gases could be a powerful way to diagnose disease. If that proves to be the case, it would be another legacy for Sherry Rowland. He died Saturday at the age of 84. Richard Harris, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.